'We should not use groundwater for the next 15/20 years'

The depletion of groundwater table in Dhaka has made water crisis in the city acute, especially during the dry season. What are the reasons behind this?
21 March 2019, 18:00 PM

'Whether we win or lose, we are not going to be on their side'

"Ultimately, in the long run, whether we win or lose, we are not going to be on their side. So we might as well do what we have to do as well as we can."
6 March 2019, 18:00 PM

Student movements and the culture of dissent

After a long and agonising wait, we are finally going to witness the election of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) on March 11.
5 March 2019, 18:00 PM

A 'new normal'?

In its 48th year, Bangladesh faces a new existential question to ponder. What now passes as “normal”?
2 March 2019, 18:00 PM

No, Chawkbazar fire won't be our 'wakeup call'

Yet another tragedy has struck Bangladesh. Suddenly, everyone has woken up to the danger of chemical factories in Old Dhaka which this daily, along with other newspapers,
22 February 2019, 18:00 PM

Rivers need more than a legal status

Rivers are no longer just rivers bound only by the laws of nature. The High Court has recently given a verdict awarding the status of “living entities” to the country's rivers in a bid to protect them and raise awareness of their importance.
13 February 2019, 18:00 PM

An Urbanism for Dhaka

A city is not mere buildings, streets and spaces; it is a theatre of social actions. And it is in that theatre, according to the American urbanist Lewis Mumford, that “man's more purposive activities…work out, through conflicting cooperative
9 February 2019, 18:00 PM

The sins of our daughters

Who among us, if we were parents of a daughter, would not want to protect her from the perils of our world? Who among us does not
1 February 2019, 18:00 PM

Pratik's death and irregularities in the university recruitment process

The recent case of suicide of Taifur Rahman Pratik, a student of Genetics Engineering and Biotechnology Department at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), because of the alleged injustices done to him by his teachers,
26 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Loan default increases because of bad management

The new finance minister, Mustafa Kamal, has vowed to address the longstanding concerns regarding increasing non-performing loans in banks. Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, a noted banker and former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, talks to The Daily Star's Nazmul Ahasan about the issue.
22 January 2019, 18:00 PM

'Real journalists act as agents of people, not power'

John Pilger, as foreign correspondent, covered Bangladesh's Liberation War. His front-page report 'Death of a Nation' alerted the world to the life-and-death struggle of the Bengali people. In an exclusive (electronic) interview with Eresh Omar Jamal of The Daily Star, Pilger talks about his coverage of Bangladesh's Liberation War, the state of journalism today, and the current political shifts happening in the West.
15 January 2019, 18:00 PM

Hefazat leader's plea: More than just a statement

Shah Ahmed Shafi, head of the Hefazat-e-Islam (HI), is in the news again. In a sermon delivered to the parents of the Darul-Ulum
12 January 2019, 18:00 PM

'Strengthening democratic norms and culture is of vital importance'

Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam, retired professor of Dhaka University, who currently teaches at ULAB, shares his impressions about the election with The Daily Star's Aasha Mehreen Amin.
2 January 2019, 18:00 PM

What do the manifestos contain?

Barring any last-minute glitch, in less than a week the nation goes to the polls. As an integral part of the electoral process political parties and alliances that entered the foray have issued their manifestos.
25 December 2018, 18:00 PM

Manifestos in the era of alt-facts—the case of education

In his famous novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez, the Nobel Prize winning Colombian writer, writes about
22 December 2018, 18:00 PM

Routine gesture or is there more to it?

The statement of the heads of the diplomatic missions of the European Union, Norway and Sweden in Dhaka on Monday calling to “ensure a genuine, credible, inclusive and transparent electoral process” in the upcoming parliamentary election warrants our attention.
11 December 2018, 18:00 PM

Is housing for the urban poor a mere dream?

One of the most iconic public housing projects of the 20th-century was built in St Louis, Missouri, in the early 1950s, during a time of post-war optimism and construction boom in America. The Pruitt-Igoe housing project consisted of 33-housing blocks, each 11-storey high, and was arranged across a 57-acre site in the poverty-stricken DeSoto-Carr neighbourhood. Upon completion, the project was seen as an answer to the urgent problem of housing the urban poor.
26 November 2018, 18:00 PM

Are enforcers of law and dispensers of justice beyond accountability?

Rule of law as a principle of governance involves that all persons, institutions and entities, public or private, including the state itself is
25 November 2018, 18:00 PM

CNN vs Trump: Is there anything for us to learn?

A federal judge on Friday ordered the White House to reinstate the press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta. His “pass” was revoked after a heated exchange with President Trump.
18 November 2018, 18:00 PM

Do the bells toll for Rohingyas?

Mid-November has arrived and insecurity and uncertainty have descended over Rohingya refugees in Ukhia and Teknaf. The impending deadline has also elicited expressions of deep concern from UN independent experts and rights organisations.
13 November 2018, 18:00 PM